Good looking synth, with an unusually wide range of options that makes using it bittersweet and suited to those who like to spend time with nuance. Like the CS-15 and some others of the CS series line, almost modular possibilities make this a potential gold mine of programming whilst robbing it of some immediacy-can be headache inducing trying to use at times, and rewarding at others! One other reservation is that the CS series never used the same CV/Gate arrangement as other synths, for reasons i'll never understand, so something like a Kenton midi box that allows for this variation is needed. However, the sync problems don't stop there, i found that the usual single-voice Kenton box wouldn't work because of the complexities of the configurations of the CS line, and had to find a 2 or 4 voice Kenton box to work around this; not the easiest thing. On the other hand, the sounds are excellent IF you put in the time to program and to sync it.

Rating: 4 out of 5
posted Friday-Jul-02-2004 at 08:21

Vaughan
a hobbyist user
from Australia
writes:

A really great synth. Excellent sound, very rich and powerful. Incredibly flexible. Similar in many ways to the Roland sh5, but looks cooler. It's got 64 knobs and sliders and 20 switches, so it can be confusing sometimes wondering why it's not making the sound you want it to, then you you realise 5 minutes later that you forgot to check that one knob over there near the...(whatever). The weirdest sounds I've heard from a synth and one of the most powerful. Shame it's monophonic.

Rating: 5 out of 5
posted Thursday-Apr-01-2004 at 05:08

WD
a hobbyist user
from NYC
writes:

As with many of the others in the CS line, raw sounds are excellent, almost Moogish warmth - not quite as obese but still powerful and cleaner. Problem or good thing, depending on your point of view, is that like the CS-15 it is almost modular in design - major headache material or programming godsend, depending on your sensibility and patience/love of experimentation!

Rating: 4 out of 5
posted Thursday-Mar-11-2004 at 05:36

Pat Gillis
a hobbyist user
from USA
writes:

I paid top dollar for this beast and don't regret it. It's really rare. The only reason I give it a '4' is because Yammy 'did it themselves' and has gifted every owner of a CS-Anything with the task of finding rare, proprietary replacement ICs in the event of a problem. That said, this is about the most 'different' sounding analogue monosynth as I've ever owned/played. I'd agree with other statements that it is not for the easily intimidated - the designers have given you a lot to work with, but work at it and you will be rewarded with silky leads, strange effects and woofer-challenging bass drones. It's built like Fort Knox and fits in nicely with my other gear in that it's got that 'blinking black box' aestetic going on. Thoughtfully, three outputs: VCA 1, VCA 2 and VCA 1+2. Not so thoughtfully, the VCO CVs and EG Gates cannot be independently addressed. Yamaha saved that for the CS-15; which only has one output! Three cheers for quirk factor. Mine came without the legs, so it's really a CS-30A(mputee). It also came with a funny red and yellow Yamaha sticker in really stilted English that says something to the effect of "Yamaha helps you define the sound to define yourself. Don't let anyone block your rock". People just don't write promo copy like that anymore.

Rating: 4 out of 5
posted Friday-Jun-27-2003 at 09:57

Ole Henrik Fjeld
a professional user
from Norway
writes:

I'll tell you right away: this is one confusing synth! It will take you many, many hours of play just to understand how the signal is routed. For instance, the High/Band/Lowpass filter-switches are located in the VCA-section! Can you believe it? That aside, the synth is capable of some very impressive sounds - especially effects, drones, sweeps, noises and the like. Someone suggested to me that the "l" in "cs-30l" stands for "Live", because of the feet and extra performance controls (portamento, sustain, filter cutoff, pitchbend). Well, I'll consider taking it with me on my next concert and let you know, but I can't say I'm looking forward to twiddling this beast in public...